July 2 2009, Multiply, First day of the Holidays

FIRST DAY OF THE HOLIDAYS;
100 degrees in the garden.

Today has been the most glorious hot summers day imaginable. The first day of the holidays and I couldn’t have asked for better weather. In fact, it was rather too warm considering I have been fighting with my hedge all day. I decided to actually DO what I’ve considered doing for the last couple of years, which is cut my hedge down to size and make it more manageable to maintain. A couple of weeks ago I bought myself an electric hedge trimmer with this task in mind, but, when it came down to it I was too chicken to use the dam thing and have snipped away with a pair of garden sheers, a pair of pruning secateurs and for the bigger branches a saw. It was so hot I only managed to work in half hour stints and then had to come in for a quick drink and a play on the computer. But; by 5.30 I had made enough progress to stop work for the day. I should finish the job tomorrow, funny how satisfying it is to do something physically challenging that shows visible results. I feel a great sense of achievement as I stand and look at what I have done today.
The hedge is just the first of a long list of chores I want to tackle over the summer. I’m not sure how much I will get done but I am quite determined to do as much as I can, the list is quite long ……….
1.    Re-paint all my blue fences with blue wood preserver
2.    Paint the doors and wrought iron gates with the high gloss blue paint I have stored in the shed
3.     Employ a workman to do a little cement work around the edge of the rockery, the edge of the ‘pond’ and fix the render on the shed walls.
4.    Fill my ‘pond’ and make a mosaic to go round the edge after the workman has finished.
5.    Make a mosaic to go around the rockery after the workman has finished.
6.    Buy some masonry paint and paint the walls once the workman has fixed the render.
Think that’s just about it for the garden, a very long list to tackle in just over 6 weeks but, I’m not going away and the weather looks set to stay hot. So, with a little luck and some perseverance I should be able to manage quite a lot. Wish me luck.
Oh forgot to say, included this photo cos it was so hot at one stage I bought my clock/temp gauge down to see what it said out side in the garden, click on it to enlarge and look at the temp!!!!, no idea how accurate this is but Scotland doesn't usually get this hot.

Tags: garden, holiday, plants, hot

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delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Jul 4, '09 I don't even think that Tasmania gets temps that warm. Summers are so mild here compared to the mainland where I lived most of my life. It's funny to think that we are on the opposite sides of the globe. Here I am right down very close to Antarctica. And I think of the British Isles as cold!

delete reply msowens1 wrote on Jul 2, '09 I rather be cool than too hot.... and it is unseasonably cool here! but it should warm up for the weekend... you have quite a to-do list for the summer.... I had an electric hedge trimmer too... it is a lot harder than you think... afterwards your arms quiver and your shoulder ache.... it gets the job done quickly but you have a tendancey to just trim a little more here and there... lol.... hope it cools for you, and that you wear a hat and sunscreen!

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Jul 2, '09 And I understand about the privets. They are very forgiving.....whack the dickens out of them and they grow right back. I don't have a hedge but I have a couple of free standing privet bushes...(I have no clue where I got them) LOL I have chopped them to the ground and in a few weeks I have a bush again.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 2, '09 yep...............I wouldn't be so brutal if it were a native hedgerow, hawthorn or holly or something like that, but it is an ornimental privit that I inherited and it had become totaly unmanagable. Also..........once I started cutting I realised there were whole dead bushes in the middle of it all. My hope is that by next summer it will be covered in leaves again and be ready for me to lightly trim just to keep it tidy. Know what you mean about the yews, they get so big but its a shame they have to be cut back, but they will look fine again next year.

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Jul 2, '09 Looks as if you are whacking that old hedge down to size.I finally had to resort to trimming my six yews that are in front of my porch with a hedge trimmer. I tried hard to keep them in a natural shape but they are just getting too large for that, so now they have straight, flat fronts. Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 2, '09 I'll do my best but I am resigned to not having a decent camera this summer..............I shall use my phone and maybe I'll buy a couple of those disposable cameras if I want to show a finished project

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 2, '09, edited on Jul 2, '09 frank ..........so far I have only found one old nest and it was no longer in use which is good. Part of the reason I didn't start this any sooner was to give all the baby birds that may have been there time to fly the nest.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jul 2, '09 When we hit 90 degrees F, and that is often, the thermometer reads 110 in the sun. We are used to it, it is the 95 to 100% humidity that is the giant killer. I'll never get used to that. Are you finding all sorts of nests and little critters in that hedge? The power clippers will be great for maintenance. They usually can't cut through branches, stalks or canes, one ends up with a saw anyway. The first cut is the deepest.

delete reply djdx wrote on Jul 2, '09 We will look forward to seeing photos as you progress with your list. :-) I like that elephant hedge! It doesn't take much more time to trim a curved line than it does a straight one and it's a lot more fun. I do a little bit of topiary in our garden.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 2, '09 Re: brenda's link. The man certainly has enough time on his hands...

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 2, '09 bennett1 said Wow!! And I bet your days are very long too, so far north. yes...............long hot days, it will be light till after 10 abd dawn was about 4 this morning

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 2, '09 brendainmad said Am back. This is what you could do with your hedges: LOL.................thanks but don''t think I'm that artistic in the garden...............nice idea though lol :-)

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Jul 2, '09 A hot day for that work /:-)

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 2, '09 100 is remarkable!! We have one of those things; they generally show as hotter than the air is (but not too much). So it might be 85 or 90 - a heat wave. Wow!! And I bet your days are very long too, so far north.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jul 2, '09 Am back. This is what you could do with your hedges: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-1196797/Homeowner-sick-view-wild-hedge-snips-herd-elephants.html

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jul 2, '09 I'm sure it was hotter than that in Madrid today. I've been inside most of the day and had to turn on the AC for a while. I've got lots of projects too for the holidays, but one of them is to travel to the US. There's a big pile of papers staring at me at the moment. They'll still be there when I come back because I'm meeting my friends at the Chinese restaurant in an hour or so. I know what you mean about being chicken. I had this super sharp cutting tool that I was too frightened to use!